Saturday, March 2, 2013


Professional Hopes and Goals 

When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, one hope that I have is to make more of a concerted effort to be a culturally relevant teacher.  Hyland (2010) states that a culturally relevant teacher learns the cultural norms and values of the ethnic, racial, or language group and uses this knowledge to impact their instruction in order to improve the educational outcomes and experiences of the children.  

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to provide more professional learning communities on these topics in our schools.  Teachers need to learn more in depth information about these topics and have opportunities to discuss them with each other.  Then they will be better equipped to brainstorm ways to better meet the needs of their diverse student population and their families. 

Hyland, N. E. (2010). Social justice in early childhood classrooms: What the research tells us. YC:
            Young Children, 65(1), 82--87. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the ProQuest
Central database: 
 

A Note of Thanks

 It has been a pleasure getting to know each of you during the past six courses.  Thank you for sharing your personal stories and insight along the way.  I wish you the best as you continue your educational journey in your specialization.  Thank you for your support and kindness. 

Best regards,
Dianne

3 comments:

  1. Hi Dianne,
    I like your goal. I agree that we need more and better opportunities to discuss the current trends and issues with other teachers. I know my co-workers need refreshers and reminders about developmentally appropriate practice and meeting with other teachers and professionals is just what they need.

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  2. Dianne, I also feel that we need more training and countiuning education on diversity to help keep us as teachers up to date and learning about the different families that we serve.

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  3. Dianne, thank you for sharing! I agree with you on so many different levels as far as the need to educate our teachers. There are so many ECE professionals that do not have adequate training and knowledge. I can not wait to share mine!

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